


Portrait Mode (Part One)

by skymageariel



Series: 31 days of The Dragon Prince [27]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Modern AU, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, school au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:21:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27711956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skymageariel/pseuds/skymageariel
Summary: Painting normally comes easy for Callum- unless his subject is a person. Maybe if he could paint Claudia, his crush and long time best friend, things would be a bit more bearable. But of course, the universe has other plans.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Series: 31 days of The Dragon Prince [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946767
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	Portrait Mode (Part One)

Callum seriously sucked at painting people. He could draw someone just fine, but as soon as you brought paint into the mix, it was hopeless. Something about pigment on canvas just didn’t make sense when it came to a person’s proportions. So when Terry the art teacher assigned a painted portrait for their semester final, Callum lost all hope for a passing grade. 

“I just hate painting people,” he complained to Claudia as they walked off the bus after school. “I mean- I don’t see why I can’t just  _ draw  _ someone. Like with a pencil.”

“Maybe he wants to get you comfortable with a different medium,” Claudia reasoned. “I mean, you’re  _ always  _ sketching- maybe he’s just trying to get you to try something new?”

“I can paint, I just can’t paint people, there’s a difference,” Callum frowned. Claudia shrugged, and the two walked down the length of the sidewalk in silence. Callum’s heart beat quickly, butterflies bouncing in his chest. He could ask her now. While they were talking about the project. Terry suggested a real life model, and Callum had been trying to ask Claudia all day. It would just be the two of them, alone at some scenic location. He’d bring her to the park, maybe, with a picnic basket when it was time for a break. It would be silent at first, but knowing Claudia, they’d be laughing and smiling in no time. They’d tell jokes while the painting on the canvas got progressively worse. And it would just be the two of them. Alone. Did he mention they’d be alone? Just the thought was enough to make Callum’s cheeks flush. Alone. With Claudia. Of course, though, she might say no to the project. She might not want to talk to someone an entire year younger than her for hours on end. Sure, they’d been best friends for years, but now that they were older, Callum felt really small around her. She’d grown to be so confident- and several inches taller than him. She was funny, smart, and Callum’s best friend, but sometimes, she could be really intimidating. It also didn’t help that he constantly felt nervous around her. Whenever Claudia walked in, Callum’s stomach did flip-flops. 

“Whatcha thinkin about?” Claudia interrupted him from his thoughts. They still had several paces before they got to Claudia’s house.

“Oh, uh…”  _ Ask her! Do it, now!  _ “So… for this project- Terry suggested I- uh-”  _ Pull it together, c’mon now.  _ “The art teacher thought I- we, the art students, should get a real person, uhm instead o-of a uh-”  _ This is just sad. Get it out! _ “He thought we s-should have a real person sit for- uhh- the portrait?”

“Oh, that’s really cool!” Claudia flashed that contagious smile. “Who were you gonna have sit in?”

“Well, actually I was thinking-”

“Because I know the perfect person. She’s super cool- I think you’d like her a lot!”

“Oh.” Callum tried to hide his disappointment. “Who was it?”

“You know that new girl, Rayla?”

“The transfer student from Scotland?”

“Yeah! She’s in my psych class, and she’s super cool. I think you’d really like her!” Claudia stopped walking as they reached the front of her house. 

“I think she’s in my AP bio class.” Callum recalled a head of platinum hair in the back of the room, quiet and reserved as the teacher explained the behavior of an enzyme. “Definitely seems like the social type,” he said sarcastically with a raised brow. 

“Well, she’s new and a bit shy,” Claudia reasoned, pulling out her phone. “But we talked for a bit, and she’d love to meet some new people. And you’re one of the best people I know.”

“I’m flattered,” Callum said calmly, though he could feel the heat rise to the tops of his ears when she said that.  _ One of the best people I know. _ Not necessarily a glowing compliment, but still. It was from Claudia. 

“I just sent you her phone number- shoot her a text!” Claudia smiled. In his pocket, Callum’s phone buzzed.

“Uh, is that the best idea? Wouldn’t she be a bit freaked out?”

“Nah,” Claudia waved him off as she turned to the front steps of her house, “Just tell her you know me, maybe drop the fact you’re in chemistry together-”

“Biology.”

“Same difference. You’ll do great! Make new friends!”

“Sure. See you tomorrow?” Callum started to wave, but the door was already shut, Claudia disappearing behind it. WIth a sigh, Callum kept walking down the street to his house. That went well. Maybe if he’d just spit it out sooner, he’d be working with Claudia instead of some Scottish rando. Maybe this Rayla person was nice. She was in his biology class, so they had that in common, which was a good start. 

Maybe they would become friends. They could study for tests together, exchange notes, classic friend stuff. Callum didn’t know anyone else in his bio class. He always felt out of place there. Maybe this was a way to get rid of that feeling. Maybe being preemptively rejected by his crush would turn out to be a good thing. 

At home, Callum disappeared into his room as quickly as possible. It was best to avoid that awkward “how was school” conversation with his step-dad. They liked each other just fine, but things were still kinda awkward. Regardless, Callum often needed some time to recharge. 

He ducked into his room, closing the door and dropping his backpack behind it. Sitting on the edge of his bed, Callum pulled out his phone, that message from Claudia staring up at him. Rayla’s phone number. After adding the number to his contacts, Callum decided to do something he wasn’t really known for. He took a risk.

_ Callum (3:39 pm):  _ hi! this is callum- im in your bio class with mr. king?

_ Callum (3:40 pm):  _ i know it’s probably weird to get a text like this, but i’m doing an art project where i need to paint a portrait of someone. my friend claudia referred me to you, since you’re new and might be looking to meet new people

_ Callum (3:42 pm):  _ if this is too weird, i get it- but if youre interested in sitting for a portrait, text me back! i’d love to work with you

Callum stared at the screen with a grimace. This was so weird. This was way too weird. He was probably making Rayla uncomfortable. Imagine getting a text from a random number asking if they could paint a portrait of you. How insane is that. What was he thinking- he should have just waited until he saw her in class tomorrow. Why did he have to be so weird, why did-

His phone buzzed, interrupting his train of thought.

_ Rayla (3:45 pm):  _ hi

_ Rayla (3:45 pm):  _ this is a really weird text to get

_ Rayla (3:46 pm):  _ i guess i wouldn’t mind sitting for a portrait

_ Callum (3:46 pm):  _ oh, cool! 

_ Callum (3:46 pm):  _ we can talk a bit more about it in class tomorrow if you want

_ Rayla (3:47 pm):  _ yeah, that sounds good

_ Rayla (3:47 pm):  _ see you then

_ Callum (3:47 pm):  _ see you then! 

Callum resisted the urge to throw his phone across the room. The awkwardness of the conversation was practically radiating from the screen. There were so many other ways he could have gone about this. He could have actually  _ talked  _ to her like a person instead of messaging her, like some creep. She probably thought he was weird. What if he gave off a bad first impression and Rayla ended up hating him! The thought gave him chills. Callum hated when people hated him. If only he hadn’t been a chicken and just asked Claudia sooner. 

Callum continued to avoid his family for the duration of the evening instead wrapping himself up in his AP biology chapter notes. Potential energy, kinetic energy, chemical energy- all the different energies were starting to mix together, and the example in the textbook did not help to differentiate.

_ Suppose a woman climbs a ladder out of a pool. She uses chemical energy to move her muscles to climb up, while also gaining potential energy due to her increasing height above the water. As she stands on the diving board, she has a lot of potential energy that turns into chemical energy, which she uses to jump off. The woman also exerts kinetic energy as she moves towards the water. When she hits the water, more energy is lost as heat due to friction. _

That was the most confusing paragraph ever, especially when his mind was reeling with bigger things. With every sentence he read from his biology book, he was reminded of the classroom, where he could see Rayla sitting in the back. He cringed at how  _ awkward  _ their conversation was.  _ Oh hi, you don’t know me, but I mysteriously obtained your phone number, and I’m in your class. You don’t know me at all, but would you like to do me a huge favor? Great!  _ What was he thinking?

He closed his notebook, frustrated. Maybe if he just left all things to do with Rayla alone, he wouldn’t feel like a complete loser. But as he shoved his biology notebook back into his backpack, the blank white canvas assigned for the project stared up at him from behind his math folder. It still had the plastic wrapped around it. Brand new. Callum pulled the canvas out of the bag. It was about as thick as a sheet of cardboard, a few inches larger than a sheet of paper. Holding it out in front of him, he tried to imagine the painting he’d create. Trees in the background. Or maybe just a field. Or maybe he’d go to the docks, and paint the water in the background, paying extra special attention to the water as it lapped up against the rocky shore. The various landscaping possibilities flooded his head. Mountains, forests, rivers, buildings. Callum shook his head- this was a portrait, not a landscape. He was painting a person, not the scenery. He was still rather bitter about that. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> hi! sorry for the late upload, i left my laptop at work lol. i hope you enjoyed part one of this bit! i know its a bit short but there is more to come lol
> 
> thanks for being here <3


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